The invention relates to a hinge with an essentially U-shaped hinge arm which is connected in an articulated manner, preferably by two hinge toggles, to a swivellable hinge part and which is held via a spacer on a base plate by an annular groove of a joint adjusting screw engaging an openly ending oblong hole at the end of the spacer near the joint and by locking means.
A hinge of this type is known from EP 0 369 261 B1 where the spacer is connected to the hinge arm by a setscrew and the joint adjustment screw and is made of plastic. The spacer is provided at its ends with hooks, of which one hook is designed resiliently and is provided with a slanted incline edge so that after hanging the joint-side hook on the bridge part of a U-shaped base plate, the spacer can be locked into place with this by pressing down the resilient hook part until this clicks into place behind the opposite edge of the bridge part, with a bulge engaging a transverse opening of the bridge part being provided between the hooks. In this known hinge, the hinge arm is connected to the base plate by the hooks made of plastic of the spacer made completely of plastic so that a not very solid connection is made between the hinge arm and the base plate because the intermediate plate consists of an elastic plastic.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a hinge of the type first given which is characterized by a simple design and by a better solidity. Furthermore, the easily mounted hinge should allow a simple adjustment vertically, laterally and in the depth of the piece of furniture.
This object is solved in accordance with the invention by the spacer being connected to the base plate and consisting of an essentially U-shaped part of plate steel whose legs are provided with hooks on their ends opposite the oblong hole and by the bridge part of the spacer comprising between the hooks a resilient tongue with an actuating piece on the end side and being provided in the region of the hooks with a transverse flat flute in which the retaining means, e.g., extensions or journals pointing inwards or a pin connecting the legs, disposed at the end region of the legs of the hinge arm can be pushed in against the force of the resilient tongue in such a way that these are locked between the base of the hooks and one flank of the flat flute.
As in the hinge in accordance with the invention the spacer is made of plate steel, the desired solid connection between hinge arm and base plate is ensured. The hinge arm can be locked into place on the spacer in a simple manner by the annular groove of the joint adjustment screw being pushed into the engaging region of the openly ending oblong hole and the opposite end of the hinge arm subsequently being pressed down so that the retaining means disposed on the legs snap into a locking position between the hooks and the flank of the flat flute forming an abutment.
The hinge in accordance with the invention allows a simple side adjustment of, for example, a door borne thereby only by actuation of the joint adjustment screw, because the retaining means locked into the hook mouths form a kind of swivel axis around which the hinge arm can be swivelled relative to the base plate. An adjustment in the depth of the piece of furniture is possible by the spacer being provided in its bridge part with a fixing borehole comprising an oblong hole, through which fixing borehole a fixing screw connecting the spacer to the base plate is screwed. A vertical adjustment is possible by the base plate being provided on both sides with wing-like fixing flanges which are provided with oblong holes transversely to the spacer through which fixing screws can be screwed into the panel of the piece of furniture.
One particular advantage of the invention comprises, for instance, the hinge arm being able to be fixed directly on the base plate by the fixing screw fixing the spacer on the base plate even without said spacer. For this purpose, the bridge part of the hinge arm is provided with an oblong hole through which the fixing screw engages and which allows an adjustment of the hinge arm in the depth of the piece of furniture.
In another embodiment, however, the spacer can instead be guided adjustably in guides of the base plate, for example, by a cam or it can also form a uniform base plate itself.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment it is provided that the hooks point in the direction of the joint and that an abutment is bent out of the resilient tongue, which abutment is supported in the interlocked state on the journals or the pin so that these are clamped between the hooks and the abutment. In this embodiment of the invention, the journals or the pin are supported on the base of the hook mouths open towards the joint and are held in this interlocked position by the abutment. The abutment creates a better interlocking support than would be ensured by a flat flute of the flank alone.
In accordance with another embodiment it is provided that the hooks point backwards. In order to create a more solid snap connection with this embodiment too, in another aspect of the invention it is provided that the actuation part is provided with laterally protruding extensions which grip behind the rear sides of the legs in the state of the journals or of the pin pressed into the hook mouth.
To prevent the resilient tongue carrying the actuating piece from being pressed down too much and so being bent, the legs bearing the hooks are appropriately provided on their rear lower end regions with extensions limiting the swivel path of the actuating piece.
Appropriately, the rear sides of the legs are tapered at their lower end regions so that the inner edges of the protruding extensions can slide on these sides forming kinds of wedge surfaces up to a clamping engagement.